One of my tasks this morning is to make some notes for the Monthly Board Meeting which is to take place this afternoon at 3pm. Coincidentally, before today’s meeting we will be holding Solar Solve Ltd’s AGM for last year. Unless our Accountant advises us to the contrary, we are confident that we had a very good year in 2018, so I don’t intend to dwell on it here.
My blog is related to an item listed on the MBM Agenda concerning ‘The State of The Industry’. In Solar Solve’s case, it’s objective is to discuss the state of the Global Marine Industry (referred to as The Maritime Sector by the UK Government). Their latest report ‘MARITIME 2050: NAVIGATING THE FUTURE – The Government’s Vision And Ambitions For The Future Of The British Maritime Sector,’ can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maritime-2050-navigating-the-future
What it’s called, sector or industry or market is not an issue but what sort of state it is in currently and what it’s prospects are going forward, seem to change on an almost weekly basis.
One problem is all of the current uncertainty regarding just about everything, world-wide.
Another is the huge number of people and organisations that publish their perceptions and opinions. Generally, they all have varying outlooks on how it will all turn out.
There are lots of Marine Media publications being issued daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually and annually, as well as a plethora of reports covering every aspect of shipping, International Trade, shipbuilding, etc. Invariably readers will encounter differing stories and conflicting opinions of what is going on now and what we can expect in the future.
At the Board Meeting, whilst working through the main Agenda items, the 3 Board Directors, who are also the business owners, discuss if there are any potential threats or opportunities in the information that has been collected and collated during the month they are reviewing. However, when we reach the ‘State of The Industry’ item, I have to confess that for the last 3 years we have found this item very easy to cover with just 4 words, “More of the same”. We cannot predict what is going to happen and we are of the opinion that whilst much of all the reports are useful information that we need to know about, nobody else can with a good degree of accuracy. There are too many potential incidents that will have a significant changing influence that people can no longer predict, using ‘normal’ concepts.
There are and always will be, businesses and other organisations suffering, some so bad they collapse and there are and always will be exceptions, businesses and organisations that are successful and doing very well.
The owners and indeed the whole team at Solar Solve are extremely proud that they are part of a very successful business that has never made a loss in any year since the company began trading in 1988. During these last 30 years we have encountered many peaks and troughs in the global economy along the journey. Some people might think we are lucky but we know that WE MAKE OUR OWN LUCK – It’s the only way!!
PS – Please remember the opinions expressed in my blogs are my personal opinions and do not reflect the opinions of SSL or its employees
